Keep Your Cool and Your Humanity About You
Our church has reopened with new procedures.
Before our church reopened earlier this month, I ran into our pastor when we both found ourselves watching a group of protesters marching down the street adjacent to our church. I hadn't seen him since our city's shelter-in-place order and as we were catching up, he asked me if I could help with funerals at the church should the need arise. He explained they needed volunteers to do extra duties required due to Archdiocese's COVID-19 protocol. I told him I would be happy to help.
About a week later, I received an email from him letting me know a parishioner had passed away and a funeral was planned. After I confirmed I was available, I was sent a link to a 90- minute training video and an invitation to attend an hour long in-person training. Both were necessary for me 'to be cleared" to volunteer.
My Duties My job at funerals was to stand outside of our church and check people in. This included making sure they had pre-registered for attendance online, had a face covering and asking them if they had COVID-19 symptoms or had been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
Once the mass started, my duty would shift making sure no one entered our church during the service.
Need to Console The volunteer leader and I had agreed if someone was not on my list of those who pre-registered, I was to escalate him or her to her.
At my second funeral, when I was checking people in, there were four people who came who had not pre-registered. When I did not see the names of the grievers on my list, I apologized to them and told them that sadly I was not able to let them in the church and that they could to talk to the volunteer in-charge. They asked to speak to her. I escorted them to her and went back to my station.
Later, I saw them back outside our church looking forlorn. I asked them what happened. They told me they were told to "go home." They further explained that they instead opted to wait outside until the family of the deceased arrived. They planned to pass on their condolences in-person prior to the service.
Need to Pray That same day after the funeral mass started, while I was standing outside the church onguard I saw an older parishioner I recognized, despite her face covering approaching. As she started to slowly ascend our stairs I walked down and greeted her. She asked me what was going on. I told about the funeral. She said she wanted to slip into the back of the church and pray. I apologized to her and explained that I was not to let anyone into the church since it was a private mass. She paused and then looked me straight in the eye and asked if she could just look inside, since it had been so long since she'd been in our church.
As I felt my eyes well-up, I said "of course" and I accompanied her up the stairs and into the church vestibule, feeling the eyes of the other volunteers on me. We stopped at the threshold and she gazed in, folded her hands, bowed her head and prayed for a minute. She then turned around and I walked with her out of the church vestibule, then outside and slowly down the stairs to the sidewalk. We then exchanged names. She said she didn't recognize me. I stepped back and pulled my mask down and gave her a big smile. Her eyes widened and crinkles appeared on their sides, and I knew she was smiling too.
Leaders,
Times of crisis require quick design of processes, procedures and training to address a new situation. While times of crisis cause fear and anxiety for just about everyone, keep both your cool and humanity about you. Be ready for the unexpected and to hear feedback as you implement new processes and procedures. Be nimble and ready to course-correct as needed.
New Process Execution Tips
Accept Feedback - when a new process isn't serving the needs of a stakeholder group, acknowledge this. Apologize and thank them for bringing their concern to your attention.
Be Ready Escalate - when getting ready to implement a new process, expect issues to surface. Be sure to have a plan for how and to whom your team will escalate the issues.
Exception Processes - A good standard repeatable process works may only work about 80 percent of the time. Once you start executing, you will quickly see those situations that don't fall into the 80 percent. Take note and consider what exception processes you need to put in place to address the stakeholders that are not being served by the standard process.
Judgement - As a leader, you are expected to make judgement calls. Sometimes, a situation warrants a deviation from the agreed upon new process. Trust your gut, make the call and be ready to both explain it to anyone and take the heat should something go awry.
As you implement new procedures and let your stakeholders know you care about them, they will work with you to ensure you get it right.
Key Points:
- In times of crisis or sudden change, leaders who combine clear procedures with human compassion help teams navigate uncertainty while maintaining trust.
- Preparing for the unexpected — and embedding flexibility and empathy in your processes — builds resilience and strengthens organizational loyalty.